Lamps, Vehicle equipment, At a glance – BMW 2012 3 Series M3 Сoupe User Manual

Page 111: Parking lamps, Low beams

110

Controls

Lamps

Vehicle equipment

In this chapter, all production, country, and
optional equipment that is offered in the model
range is described. For this reason, descrip-
tions will be given of some equipment that may
not be available in a vehicle, for example due to
the special options or national-market version
selected. This also applies to safety related
functions and systems.

At a glance

0 Lamps off,

daytime running lights

1 Parking lamps and daytime running lights
2 Low beams,

welcome lamps

3 Automatic headlamp control, daytime run-

ning lights, welcome lamps, High-beam
Assistant, and Adaptive Light Control

Parking lamps/low beams,

automatic headlamp control

General information

When the driver's door is opened with ignition
switched off, then the exterior lighting is auto-
matically switched off if the light switch is in
position

0, 2, or 3.

Parking lamps

In switch position

1, the front, rear and side

vehicle lighting is switched on. You can use the
parking lamps for parking.

The parking lamps will discharge the bat-
tery. Therefore, do not leave them on for

unduly long periods of time; otherwise, the bat-
tery might not have enough power to start the
engine. It is preferable to switch on the left-
hand or right-hand roadside parking lamps,
refer to page

112

Low beams

The low beams light up when the light switch is
in position

2 and the ignition is on.

Automatic headlamp control

When the switch is in position

3, the low beams

are switched on and off automatically depend-
ing on ambient lighting conditions, e.g. in a tun-
nel, in twilight, or if there is precipitation. The
Adaptive Light Control is active. The LED next
to the symbol is illuminated when the low
beams are on. You can also activate the daytime
running lights, refer to page

111

. In the situa-

tions described above, the lamps then automat-
ically switch from daytime running lights to low
beams.
The headlamps may also come on when the
sun is sitting low on a blue sky.

The low beams remain switched on inde-
pendent of the ambient lighting condi-

tions when you switch on the fog lamps.

The automatic headlamp control cannot
serve as a substitute for your personal

judgment in determining when the lamps
should be switched on in response to ambient
lighting conditions. For example, the system
cannot detect fog or hazy weather. To avoid
safety risks, you should always switch on the
low-beam headlamps manually under these
conditions.